Vice President Kamala Harris has a new advertising push to draw attention to her plan to build 3 million new homes over four years, a move designed to contain inflationary pressures that also draws a sharp contrast to Republican Donald Trump’s approach.
Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, highlights her plan in a new minute-long ad released Tuesday that uses her personal experience, growing up in rental housing while her mother saved for a decade before she could buy a home. The ad targets voters in the swing states including Arizona and Nevada. Campaign surrogates are also holding 20 events this week focused on housing issues.
In addition to increasing home construction, Harris is proposing the government provide as much as $25,000 in assistance to first-time buyers. That message could carry weight at this moment as housing costs have kept upward pressure on the consumer price index. Shelter costs are up 5.1% over the past 12 months, compared to overall inflation being 2.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Vice President Harris knows we need to do more to address our housing crisis and that’s why she has a plan to end the housing shortage” and will crack down on “corporate landlords and Wall Street banks hiking up rents and housing costs,” said Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s battleground states director.
The Harris plan would create tax breaks for homebuilders focused on first-time buyers and expand existing incentives for companies that construct rental housing. Because local zoning often restricts the supply of homes, she would also double the available funding to $40 billion to encourage local governments to remove the regulations that prevent additional construction.
Although Trump made his reputation as a real estate developer, data shows that there was a shortage of available housing during his presidency that has continued.
That shortage became more problematic when inflation jumped as the country recovered from the pandemic and faced higher food and energy costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The high inflation damaged the approval ratings of President Joe Biden, who Republicans and some economists blamed for sparking the price runups with his pandemic aid.
Mortgage rates climbed to levels that were prohibitively high for many would-be buyers. At the same time, many existing homeowners held off on listing their properties for sale in ways that compounded the inflation challenge.
Trump has floated an array of ideas for lowering housing costs — including his suggestion in a June speech in Wisconsin that stopping illegal immigration would reduce demand for housing and bring down prices.
“I will also stop inflation by stopping the invasion, rapidly reducing housing costs,” Trump said.
There is also the possibility of opening up more federal land for home construction with the Trump campaign proposing a competition to charter as many as 10 new cities. Economists supportive of Trump’s agenda have suggested — despite deficits climbing during his presidency — that Trump would get federal spending under control if he was president again, which would lower interest rates.
The Trump campaign has also opposed efforts by Democrats to encourage the construction of apartments and condominiums in suburbs and cities, which could alleviate the housing shortage. Trump has said in a video that such efforts are “Marxist” and would be a “war on the suburbs” that would destroy property values.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, in a statement, said that “Kamalanomics” is to blame for home ownership becoming less attainable, an attempt to undermine Harris’ message of being a change candidate who can open up opportunities for the middle class.
Trump’s main play has been to claim that Harris can’t pay for her housing agenda. That’s even though he also attacks her for supporting tax increases and other revenue raisers proposed by Biden that could in theory offset the costs.
“She has no clue how’d she paid for $25,000 to every first-time homebuyer, including illegals,” said Trump at an August 19 rally in York, Pennsylvania, claiming without clear evidence that her policy would support immigrants without legal status.
The Harris campaign plans to hold housing affordability events in the Pennsylvania cities of Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, as well as the Arizona cities of Phoenix and Tucson. There will also be events in the Nevada cities of Las Vegas and Reno and the North Carolina cities of Asheville and Charlotte, in addition to Savannah, Georgia.
More than half of U.S. parents report needing financial assistance to buy the technology their kids need for school, a worrying statistic as the back-to-school season kicks off. Bank of Japan will not raise rates and the yen carry-trade will be back on, strategist says
EcoATM Gazelle, a mobile device recommence company, surveyed 1,000 parents with children ages 8 to 18 about their technology affordability.
About two-thirds of parents in the survey said they consider buying new technology for their kids at least once a year, and 56% said they need to buy their kids technology to stay technologically literate. Plus, with so much homework online, most kids can’t get through high school without a computer.
But many families can’t afford the high prices of technology.
The survey found that 55% of parents reported going into credit card debt, using a payment plan, or borrowing money from friends or family to pay for new technology for their children for school. Almost half said they chose not to buy devices for their kids because of the costs.
Forty-one percent of respondents said they were more interested in affordable, low-cost brands due to inflation. EcoATM Gazelle sells refurbished technology, which it says is a sustainable and affordable alternative for price-weary parents.
“With technology being a must-have in today’s learning environment, parents want to make sure that their children are equipped with devices that can help them achieve their goals,” CEO of ecoATM Gazelle Stan Pavlovsky said in a press release. “As a father, I share these concerns and believe that parents should have accessible technology and not have to decide between buying a quality tablet or phone for their child’s success in school or paying for groceries.”
U.S. consumer confidence rose to a six-month high in August amid optimism over the economic outlook, but Americans are becoming more anxious about the labor market after the unemployment rate jumped to near a three-year high of 4.3% last month.
RATE CUTS COMING
Two workers are dead and another person was seriously injured Tuesday after a tire on a Boeing (BA) plane exploded at a Delta Air Lines (DAL) facility near the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to reports.
The tire reportedly exploded early in the morning while it was being removed from a plane, local TV station WSBTV reported.
One of the people killed was a Delta employee and the other was a contractor. The person facing serious injuries was also a Delta employee, the station reported.
Delta said it was “heartbroken by the loss of two team members and the injury of another.”
The airline said the accident occurred at the Atlanta Technical Operations Maintenance facility.
“The Delta family is grateful for the quick action of first responders and medical teams on site,” the airline told WSBTV. “We are now working with local authorities and conducting a full investigation to determine what happened.”
Delta has not released the names of those killed or provided more details about the accident. The condition of the injured employee remains unknown.
KUTV reported the Boeing 757 had recently arrived in Atlanta from Las Vegas, Nevada.
There were no interruptions to airport services because of the accident.
A tire that exploded on a Delta Air Lines (DAL)-operated Boeing 757 on Tuesday morning killed two workers and injured another in Atlanta. The tragic incident is a reminder that airplanes are incredibly dangerous machines and that their engines aren’t the only components capable of unleashing serious power.
A 1996 paper in the SAE Transactions journal explored just how immense an airplane tire blowout can be. “A bursting tire is like an exploding bomb,” the wrote. “The energy released by a tire burst can be equated to dynamite.” (The deadly Air France-operated supersonic Concorde plane explosion in 2000 was caused in part by a tire explosion; fragments struck the fuel tank, which leaked and engulfed the jet in flames before it crashed.)
In order to “quantify the burst tire phenomena,” scientists purposely explored tires from an F-16 fighter jet and a B-52 bomber. The latter blowout released 1 million pound-feet of force or two sticks of dynamite. (A B-52 has about twice the maximum takeoff weight as a 757.) The scientists detailed the carnage that struck the testing chamber they had set up:
The damage included removing paint chips from the facing test cell wall and scattering them throughout the test cell. Other loose paint chips and dust were found on floors and tables around the large [landing gear development facility]. The video camera recording the test runs, along with its mounting box, were blown off the wall in the test cell. A high intensity light 15 feet away from the tire was blown out. On the second floor, approximately 45 feet across the building, picture frames fell from walls. A previously cracked window pane was blown out of the building. Wood framing around a window air conditioner, approximately 240 feet away, was knocked off and a clock fell off the wall.
Had the personnel running the tests not been “required to wear ear protection and remain outside of the test cell, a minimum of 20 feet away from the tire, with solid metal doors and a dynamometer carriage between the tire and themselves,” the scientists noted, “significant injuries could have been experienced.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Delta had not yet released the identities of the workers killed in the incident or said what caused the explosion.
French talent platform Freelance.com reported revenue yesterday, after markets closed, of €258.8 million for the second quarter ended 30 June 2024, an increase of 23% when compared to the same period a year ago. Organic growth stood at 1%.
In France, Freelance.com delivered consolidated revenue of €189.5 million in the second quarter, up 33% compared with the second quarter of 2023 and up 1% in organic growth.
Internationally, Freelance.com generated revenue of €69.4 million in the second quarter, up 1% compared with the second quarter of 2023 (down 1% organically).
The group said the organic decline in sales in Q2 2024 is limited to -1%, despite a strong comparable Q2 2023. These results are attributable to the stabilization of Helvetic Payroll’s activities and to the “year-to-year growth of €2.1 million of the Moroccan scope, driven by non-recurring items”.
Organic growth in France (+1%) continued its slowdown, in line with the last twelve months, affected by difficult market conditions. The group continues to implement cost and revenue synergies from the recently acquired OpenWork and STA.
(€ millions) | 2024 | 2023 | Change |
Q1 | 258.2 | 208.5 | 24% |
Q2 | 258.8 | 210.9 | 23% |
H1 | 517.1 | 419.4 | 23% |
The integrations of OpenWork on 1 September 2023, and STA on 11 January 2024, raise Freelance.com’s combined annual sales above the billion-euro mark and strengthen its position in the external talent management market.
“We are continuing our review of external growth opportunities in France and Europe,” the company stated in a press release.
Freelance.com shares last traded at €3.07, no change on the day and 22.80% above the 52-week low of €2.50 set on 5 August 2024. The company has a market cap of €173.56 million.
As inflation soars, many Americans are having regrets about how they’re spending their money.
Bankrate (RATE) found that the top regret for those who wished they tightened their purse strings more is not saving enough for retirement, followed by concerns about not saving enough for emergencies.
Unsurprisingly, the survey found that those closer to retirement are more worried about it, with 37% of baby boomers regretting not saving early enough. Twenty-six percent of Gen Xers say the same, compared to just 13% of millennials and a mere 5% of Gen Z.
Bankrate also discovered that Americans are more likely to regret lacking savings than taking on too much debt. Another common financial regret, the survey found, is not saving enough for children’s education, as college costs soar.
“Saving is a lot less painful than dealing with the debt that results when you don’t have it,” Bankrate chief financial analyst Greg McBride said in a press release.
When asked why they haven’t saved enough, 45% of those surveyed cited inflation and high prices as the main factors. Another 18% cited their current jobs. Others cited high interest rates, a tough housing market, and complicated family dynamics.
McBride advises those worried about saving enough to try to automatically transfer more money from their paychecks each time they receive one. “Saving for retirement and emergencies can be automated through payroll deduction, direct deposit, and automatic transfers,” he said. “Start modestly and after a couple of pay periods you won’t miss what you don’t see.”